Le Quang Liem – a new star in the Vietnam sky

2/18/2010 – Every so often a player has a run for the ages, and this incredible series inevitably ushers in a new name to be reckoned with at the highest echelons of chess. 19-year-old Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem has just had such a run, passing through the fiercest trial by fire the chess world has to offer, coming first or equal first in two super-strong Russian tournaments. Albert Silver reports.

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The 9th Aeroflot Open took place from February 9th to 18th, 2010, for the fifth
year in succession in the tourist complex Izmailovo Hotel Gamma-Delta, where
most of the participants also stayed. The prize sum was EUR 180,000, including
prizes for the World Blitz Qualification Tournament. Four Open Tournaments (A1,
A2, B and C) were made up according to the rating of the participants. The A1
tournament had players with a rating of 2550 or higher. Time controls: for tournament
A1 and A2 it is 40 moves in 100 minutes, then 20 moves in 50 minutes, finally
15 minutes for the remaining moves, with an increment of 30 seconds per move
from move one. For tournaments B and C: 90 minutes for the whole game with an
increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.

Le Quang Liem – a new star in the Vietnam sky

By Albert Silver, Brazil

The Moscow Open is justifiably legendary for numerous reasons: nine rounds
of brutal competition without rest, facing grizzled grandmasters and platoons
of underrated masters coming from the Russian chess school, has made it one
where only the strongest survive, as its prestigious list of past winners attests
to. When a foreigner comes to it, the plan is more a matter of vini, vidi...
I lived to tell the tale. So when nine rounds later the Vietnamese player had
come through with 7.0 in 9 and a tie for first place with a near 2800 performance,
he had earned rare bragging rights indeed.

If that were all, it would still be plenty, but the very next day, without
a single rest day in between, an even more bloodthirsty event started: the nine-round
Aeroflot Open. The A Group is the chess equivalent of an open brawl at a Hell’s
Angels convention. It is an exclusive 80-player “open”, with no
less than 73 grandmasters all vying for the top prize, including the 2700+ French
phenoms, Bacrot and Vachier-Lagrave, and notables such as Kamsky, Motylev, Bu
Xiangzhi, not to mention rising stars such as the 19-year-old Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Just to name a few.

For players participating in both events, this means 18 rounds of non-stop
grueling competition, without a single rest day.

After three rounds, Le Quang had had as good a start as he could hope for.
Not only was he on 3.0 in 3, but his last two scalps included Bacrot and Bu
Xiangzhi no less. Bacrot had started with a Slav, only to be surprised by a
rare continuation on move 13, and gradually found himself with the short end
of the stick. In round three Le Quang had white again, against Bu Xianghzi this
time, and both players, wittingly or not, followed a 2005 game in the Symmetrical
English between Bruzon Bautista and Miton that had ended in a draw. On move
20, Le Quang deviated with a significant improvement:

In round four Cheparinov tried very hard to break the Vietnamese’s Caro-Kann,
but he held fast and the draw was agreed upon on move 52. Round five was his
first and only rest day, as he met his compatriot and co-leader, GM Nguyen Nguoc
Truong Son, and a quick draw allowed both players to ready themselves for the
final sprint. The next two rounds were uneventful, as Le drew both games, and
then in round eight, he beat Savchenko with white in the Exchange Variation
of a Queen’s Gambit Declined, when the latter erred:

In the last round, both Vietnamese players had 6.0 in 8, followed by the 25-year-old
Ukrainian Korobov, and the rising Russian star, 19-year-old Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Le Quang was paired against the Russian, and given the situation, a blood battle
was expected. After a mere ten moves in a Symmetrical English, the databases
drew a blank, though the game remained quite balanced until move 15, when Nepomniachtchi
took off his gloves.

On the other hand, Le's his compatriot was less fortunate, and Korobov took
advantage of several errors to win clear second. Le Quang’s performance
of 2870, not to mention his classy last round win, make it clear that not only
will he be the first player from his country to break the 2700 barrier, but
that this 19-year-old is a star on the ascension. Winning both the Moscow Open
and the Aeroflot Open, 18 non-stop rounds against the fearsome Russian school,
on their own turf? That’s a story his grandchildren will be bragging about.

Links

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Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.

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